Computer programs are widely available for creating drawings and other documents with graphic content. These programs incorporate a variety of tools to aid a user in creating and manipulating objects, such as graphics, icons, geometric shapes, images, and blocks of text, through a computer display. In contrast to traditional pencil and paper, a user need not be a skilled draftsman to create graphically sophisticated documents using drawing software. While computer-aided design (“CAD”) software is specialized and often used by engineering professionals, a more diverse population of users works with general-utility software to create presentations, simple drawings, textual documents with integrated graphics, and a myriad of other vehicles of communication.
A software user can perform an array of operations on a graphical object displayed on a display device using a pointer that is under the control of a mouse, trackball, or stylus. Typical operations that users perform on graphical objects include resizing, rotating, adding text, moving, deleting, reshaping, curving a line, and altering a vertex. Many general-utility software packages feature graphical user interfaces (“GUI”) that are adapted to simplify performing these operations so that user training is minimized. Nevertheless, the conventional tools that are available to a user for performing pointer-based operations on objects can be cumbersome and difficult to learn.
A handle-based tool can include one or more miniature graphics or icons that are presented on a display in association with a larger graphical object. Such graphics or icons are usually referred to as object “handles.” A user can perform an operation on a larger graphical object by directing a pointer to a handle and clicking, dragging, or otherwise gesturing with the pointer. Conventional GUIs may include a menu, such as a toolbar or palette, through which a user can switch handles or otherwise change between tool modes.
To edit a graphical object, such as resizing, reshaping, or rotating the graphical object, a user can move the pointer to a toolbar at the top of the display to actuate one or more pull-down menus. Selecting an operation from the appropriate pull-down menu could invoke a set of object handles that is specific to that operation. One drawback of this approach is that it can be difficult to find a tool mode in the menu. Sometimes it is difficult for a user to know that the tool mode is even available. Consequently, a casual user usually needs to undertake a lengthy learning process to become comfortable with the tools available in most conventional drawing software packages. Some conventional drawing software packages employ balloon-based information tips to shorten the learning process. In such packages, a user hint may appear beside an icon or handle when a user pauses the pointer at that location. Many users find the appearance of balloon-based tips to be distracting.
In many instances, it would be desirable to provide tools that are intuitive and user-friendly for performing operations on objects using a pointer in a graphic-oriented computer display. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a computer-based method and system for providing handle-based tools through which a user can switch between operational modes to perform diverse operations.